Injured	Killed
1	0

Date: 28 June 2010
Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view/20100628-278090/Brave-policeman-foils-armed-robbery

 

POLICE OFFICER 2 Jomel Caronan, a policeman assigned at the Parañaque City Police Community Precinct 7, had every reason to be happy as he made his way to work at around 10:30 a.m. Monday.

The day before, the wife of the 33-year-old lawman had just given birth to their fourth child and Caronan was looking forward to spending time with her and the newest addition to their family.

But just as he passed by Plaza Cervantes in Binondo, Manila, on his motorcycle, Caronan saw a man running toward him, screaming, “Holdup! Holdup!” Close on his heels were three other men.

“I noticed that the men he was running away from were armed with handguns,” the policeman later told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview.

Caronan immediately sprung into action. He accosted the armed men but they fired at him, prompting him to shoot back.

One of his bullets found its mark. Nolito Garaes, one of the suspected robbers, was hit and taken by responding policemen from the Manila Police District Station 11 to Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center.

Another suspect, Larion Milan, surrendered when he saw Garaes slump to the ground, bleeding from his wound.

The third suspect, identified by policemen as Noel Jimenez, escaped.

The man being chased by the armed robbers turned out to be Santiago Dangan, 50, a messenger of Savory Restaurant.

Dangan said he was walking toward a bank in the area to deposit the restaurant’s earnings of P500,000 when the three men, also aboard a motorcycle, approached him and declared a holdup.

Dangan said he grabbed the money which he had placed in a bag and ran away as he screamed for help.

Fortunately for him, Caronan came to his aid.

For the policeman, what he did was simply part of his duty as an enforcer of the law.

Asked if thoughts of his wife and newborn child did not cross his mind as he shot it out with the robbers, Caronan said no.

“It would have been more difficult for me if I had not helped out the messenger and ignored what was happening. I am a policeman and this is my duty,” he replied.

For now, however, the brave policeman is putting down his gun to take on the role of a father. He told the Inquirer that he was going on leave for a few days to look after his wife and new baby.